Daphne Jayasinghe, Head of Policy at the International Rescue Committee, said:

"We welcome today's commitment from the UK to £430 million towards girls education at the G7 Leaders' Summit. However, at the same time, the UK aid for girls education is reportedly being cut by 40%, with an estimated 700, 000 fewer girls supported by UK aid funded education programmes.

The UK government’s commitment is at odds with the devastating reality of the cuts to humanitarian programmes, which threaten to harm women and girls being hit hardest by the climate crisis, the economic shock of Covid-19 and the shadow pandemic of gender-based violence.

Adolescent girls in crisis contexts are 90% more likely to be out of school than girls in non-crisis contexts and girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of schools than boys in crisis contexts.

Today’s commitment is not enough.

It is imperative for the UK to match rhetoric to reality by reversing the cuts to foreign aid and restoring long term commitments to girls education."